The ability to produce arrays of fluid or tissue samples is of great value for increasing the rate at which chemical or biological studies may be performed, and the use of such arrays has been widely adopted in the genomics research, biological research and drug-discovery industries.
Microarrayers are automated instruments used to deposit or spot minute amounts of chemical or biological substances, such as DNA, RNA, cDNA, polynucleotides, oligonucleotides, and proteins in a dense array of minute fluid droplets on a substrate, such as a glass slide. The general purpose of fabricating microarrays is to permit massively parallel investigation of chemical or biological activity. The microarray format allows hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of assays to be performed in parallel, enabling experiments and investigations that would have previously taken years, to be performed in a matter of days.
Therefore, the ability to produce spotted microarrays in large quantity, rapidly, at reasonable cost, and with uniform and consistent deposition properties, such as spot size, shape and density, has significant industrial and economic importance.